Abram Skaats

Park Street Congregational Church (1871)

In 1867, Congregational services began to be held in East Bridgeport in the Bethesda Mission Chapel on East Washington Street. A church was formally organized the following year and in 1870-1871, Park Street Congregational Church was built at the corner of Park and Barnum Streets, fronting Washington Park. The Gothic Revival building was designed by architect Abram Skaats. The church‘s membership peaked in the 1930s and 1940s, but declined after World War II. In 1988, Park Street Congregational Church merged with Trinity United Church of Christ of Trumbull to form Unity Hill United Church of Christ, located at 364 White Plains Road in Trumbull. The former Park Street Congregational Church is now Calvary Temple Christian Center.

Augustus Dupee House (1872)

Designed by architect Abram Skaats, the house at 281 Barnum Avenue in East Bridgeport was built in 1872 for Augustus Dupee, a tool maker. The two-story Colonial Revival colonnade that now dominates the front of the house was added around 1940.

S.C. Kingman House (1870)

As related in D. Hamilton Hurd’s History of Fairfield County, Connecticut (1881):

Samuel Clayton Kingman, the second son of Samuel Kingman, was born in South Redding, Mass. (now Wakefield), in 1830, graduated in the high school, and was the valedictorian of his class. The following year he spent at sea for the benefit of his health, after which he served his time as a machinist in the celebrated Lawrence Machine-Shop, with such apprentices as Amos Whitney, Joseph Marble, F. Higgins, and J. A. Taylor, after which he spent one year in the service of Col. Anderson, at the Tredegar Works at Richmond, Va. Upon his return he entered the employ of the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company, at Watertown, Conn., organized about that time [1852; the company moved to Bridgeport in 1856], and still remains in their employ. He has invented a number of machines for the Company which have resulted in a great saving of labor.

Mr. Kingman was married in 1853 to Miss Emily Eustis Brooks, at Haverhill, Mass., a descendant of Governor Eustis. He has ever been a benefactor to the poor and sorrowing, and his gifts, with those of his companions, have been many. The bell of the Park Street Church, to which they belonged, memorizes the death of a soldier, friend, and brother, Albion D. Brooks, killed at Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864. The clock and communion-table presented by them attest their interest in the welfare of their church.

Mr. Kingman resides at Washington Park, [in East Bridgeport,] in a delightful residence, surrounded by his family, which consists of his wife and live daughters. He has occupied many positions of public trust, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of the citizens of the city in which he resides.

As a prominent citizen of Bridgeport, Kingman was appointed a secretary of the meeting of Republicans in Washington Hall that heard a speech by Abraham Lincoln on March 10, 1860. Kingman’s house in East Bridgeport was built in 1870. Located at 373 Noble Avenue, it was designed by architect Abram Skaats.

Claudius R. Hayward House (1868)

At 361 Barnum Avenue in East Bridgeport is a Second Empire-style house, built in 1868 for Claudius R. Hayward, who was a real estate developer and a contractor for the Wheeler & Wilson Company, manufacturers of sewing machines. The house’s architect was Abram Skaats, who designed many houses for the wealthy of Bridgeport in the late 1860s and early 1870s.

John Wessels-Chauncey Morton House (1869)

The mansard-roofed Second Empire double house at 269-271 Barnum Street in East Bridgeport was originally occupied by John Wessels, a grocer, and Chauncey Morton, a contractor. The house is one of many in East Bridgeport designed by architect Abram Skaats.